Missionaries Jonathan and Rosalind Goforth arrived in China in March 1888. Their assignment to open a new field in the northern section of Honan province was a daunting one. The young couple struggled to learn the language, adjust to the climate and raise a large family in primitive surroundings. They met many discouraging challenges, including the death of a child.

One day a letter arrived from Hudson Taylor, then a pioneer with China Inland Missions. He wrote:

We understand North Honan is to be your field; we, as a

Hudson Taylor

mission, we have tried for ten years to enter that province from the south, and have only just succeeded. It is one of the most anti-foreign provinces in China . . . Brother, if you would enter that province, you must go forward on your knees.

The Goforths took Taylor’s advice. With persistence and prayer, they mastered the language. People began responding to their message of a loving Christ. A female convert filled their need of an assistant Bible teacher for women.

Rosalind Goforth

Years later, Rosalind Goforth wrote a little book that has become one of my favourites, How I Know God AnswersPrayer. She wrote of miracles of revival, guidance, healing and comfort. Through the Boxer Rebellion and many other life threatening events, the Goforths proceeded on their knees.

Prayer sends tremors down the enemy’s spine. It puts courage in the weak-kneed and takes the whine and worry out of life. It resurrects the fallen and revives the discouraged. Only God can give us courage to face impossible situations. Only He can open closed doors.

The new year, 2015, is an open door. Let’s go through it on our knees.

See! I have set before you a door wide open which no one is able to shut . . Rev. 3:8

Prayer: Father, make me alert to the opportunities You provide. Give me courage to walk through the doors You open for me. I dedicate this new year, 2015, to You. At the end of it, I want to be found Faithful to Your Word and to Your purpose for my life.

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About rosemccormickbrandon

An award winning personal experience writer, Rose McCormick Brandon is a frequent contributor to faith magazines, devotionals and compilations, including Chicken Soup for the Soul. Rose is the author of Promises of Home: Stories of Canada's British Home Children (2014). One Good Word Makes all the Difference (2013), He Loves Me Not, He Loves Me (2012) and Vanished: What Happened to My Son. She's a frequent contributor to The Testimony, Today's Pentecostal Evangel and other faith magazines in Canada, U.S. and Australia. Rose also writes about Canadian history, specifically the era of Child Immigration from Britain. Read her stories of child immigrants at: http://littleimmigrants.wordpress.com

This is probably the most important message I’ve read all year (or maybe ever?). Thank you, Rose. May God answer that prayer in your own life as well. Thanks also for the link to the Rosalind Goforth book.

Joan

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